Will of Fire
by LazyGuy55
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Jaganshi Ryu. Watch as these three grow to become the most powerful ninjas of their time. NarutoxYu Yu Hakusho crossover. Pairings:NarutoxHinata, SasukexSakura, OCxTenTen, and others.
1. A Boy and his Demon

Disclaimer: Guess what, I don't own Naruto _or_ Yu Yu Hakusho! Big surprise, isn't it? By the way, this goes for the entirety of this story, so I won't put this here again. It's just too troublesome.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Will of Fire**_

_**Chapter 1: A Boy and his Demon**_

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, the Village Hidden in Leaves, looked with sad eyes at the unconscious four-year-old that lay in a hospital bed. The young boy had just suffered yet another beating at the hands of the villagers. It was a miracle that he was still alive at all. He had hoped he wouldn't have to do this, but the boy needed protection. Normally, Sarutobi would have absolutely no doubts in his mind about placing the boy with who he had in mind, but the man had just recently lost someone very precious to him. _'I hope he's up to the responsibility...' _

Just then, the room's door opened, and admitted a young man of about seventeen, with silver hair, his Konoha headband, the symbol that he was ninja of the village, covering his left eye, leaving only the right one visible, and looking bored.

"You called for me Hokage-sama?" he asked. It was then that he spotted the youth lying on the room's hospital bed.

His visible eye narrowed dangerously, as he spoke with a venom in his voice, "Who was it?"

"It's already been taken care of Kakashi," Sarutobi replied, before the young Jounin did something rash.

Kakashi's walked over to the youth's bedside, eyes softening as he went. He took a minute to think on how much the boy would resemble his father when he grew up. He then turned to the Hokage with his bored expression back in place, and waited to hear the reason he had been called here.

"I had hoped that the hatred the villagers harbored for him because of his... guest, would fade, given enough time," Sarutobi began, a sorrow adorning the old man's features, "But, apparently, I was sadly mistaken." He heaved a heavy sigh and continued, "If this goes on any longer, I have no doubt that he'll take one too many hits, and die. That is why I need to place him under the protection." He watched as Kakashi blinked, slightly confused as to why he was being told this, until his eyes, well, eye, widened with realization.

"I need that person to be someone that I _know_ I can trust with his life. I need that person to be you, Kakashi."

"Understood," Kakashi stated; the Sandaime didn't even have time to blink before the answer came. Not only that, but Sarutobi saw a look of determination in the young man's eyes, that was rarely ever seen.

The old man smiled and said, "Good, from now on he will live with you. I expect him to be moved in by tomorrow afternoon." With that, Sarutobi walked out, knowing full well that the boy was in excellent hands now, his previous doubts forgotten.

Kakashi reached over, placed his hand on the sleeping boy's shoulder, and said, with a fierce determination, "Uzumaki Naruto, I am sorry that I haven't been protecting you up to this point, as I should have. I promise you, that I will never fail you again." As he sat down in the chair sitting next to the bed, he added, with a silent tear falling from his eye, "I'll never fail anyone again."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deep in the recesses of Naruto's mind, the young boy sat, crying into his arms, huddled against the bars of a gigantic cage, the only thing adorning it was a small white tag with the kanji for 'seal' written on it. Inside the cage itself, a massive figure lay, it's crimson fur bristling in anger, it's nine tremendous waving menacingly behind it, as it looked upon the sobbing figure sitting in front of him.

_**And they dare to call me a monster, when they would do such things to a child, **_Kyuubi mused. He wished he could reach out and comfort the young kit, but he could never get past the seal that kept him inside the boy. He had only actually been able to talk to Naruto for the past year, and, for reasons he couldn't fathom, he had quickly come to see him as a son, someone that he would protect with all of his power.

**'I'm sorry kit, if it weren't for me, you would never have to deal wi-'**

"No," Naruto cut in, quickly turning around, tears still rolling down his face. "It's not your fault, Kyuubi-san! Remember?! It was the bad man with the cloak with all those clouds on it, and that freaky mask, that made you do it!" Naruto really didn't like it when Kyuubi would start blaming himself for what he had to go through. The demon had been Naruto's only real source of comfort for the past year of so that he had been able to converse with him. Naruto looked up to the actually gentle fox as a father figure.

At the look Naruto was giving him, Kyuubi's eyes filled with a compassion never seen, or heard of, in a demon. The Kyuubi then leaked some of his chakra through the cage to warm and comfort the young boy.

Naruto let the blood red chakra wrap around him, in the Kyuubi's own version of an embrace, and allowed it to carry him off to sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto awoke the next morning to find himself lying a hospital bed. He sat up slowly and yawned.

"Yo," came a voice to his right.

Naruto started and looked to his right. There he saw a familiar masked face looking back at him, holding a familiar little orange book.

"Kakashi-san!" the boy exclaimed, as he lunged at the only adult that he felt he could trust, besides Sarutobi of course.

"I see your wounds have already healed nicely," Kakashi stated, seemingly unphased by the fact that he had just been tackled.

"Yep! Kyuubi-san already took care of me!" Naruto had a smile on his face as he said this.

Kakashi just smiled back. Kakashi had known about Naruto talking to the Kyuubi. Naruto had actually told the Sandaime about it the day after the first occurrence. He in turn told Kakashi. Needless to say that he had been surprised, and maybe even a little scared. What had confused him the most about the situation, though, was that Naruto said how kind the demon had been. Sarutobi was actually able to find out what may have caused this, after a little bit of research, of course. He said that the Yondaime's seal was so powerful, that not only had it begun merging the Kyuubi's chakra with Naruto's, it had also begun merging their very souls, as well. He explained that it was more than likely that the Kyuubi had been infused with some of Naruto's more dominant traits, since it was Naruto's that was the dominant soul.

"Well, tell him that I said thanks, will ya? I was pretty worried," he said, as he ruffled the boy's golden blond hair, with a warm smile showing through his mask.

Naruto brightened even more at this, and vigorously nodded his head.

"Oh, and before I forget, what would you say if I told you that from now on, you got to come live with me?"

Naruto sat and stared at Kakashi with wide, azure-blue eyes. He couldn't believe what he was being asked. Live with Kakashi-san?

"One question first," Naruto said. When Kakashi looked quizzically at him, he continued. "Am I dreaming?"

Kakashi's smile widened even more behind the mask as he said, "Nope."

At this, Naruto grinned the widest he ever had in his short life, jumped onto the ground, and started jumping up and down, yelling, "Yatta (Woohoo)! Yatta! I get to live with Kakashi-san! Yatta!"

As Kakashi watched the boy, his smiled became a grin that his mask was having a lot of trouble concealing. This was going to be interesting.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Author's Notes**_

Soooooo... what do you guys and gals think? I know, I've barely scratched the actual story, but I've gotta get this stuff out of the way first. So, anyway, please R&R!


	2. Friendship and Tragedy

_**Will of Fire**_

_**Chapter 2: Friendship and Tragedy**_

A six-year-old Uzumaki Naruto walked through the door of his ninja academy class, ready to take his first steps in becoming a full-fledged ninja, just like his Aniki(big brother), Kakashi. He was dressed in a black tank-top that was adorned with a red spiral in the center of the back, black jeans, and black shinobi sandals. His short blond hair stuck out in spikes, while the lower half of his face was covered by a black mask that was exactly like Kakashi's. His azure-blue eyes seemed to only be interested in the little orange book he was reading from, though he was actually surveying the classroom, and making note of the more interesting occupants.

In the back, he spied a boy with spiky black hair, sunglasses, and a thick white coat_. Must be an Aubrame,_ he thought. Kakashi had mentioned them when he had been talking to Naruto about the more prominent clans in Konoha. His attention then turned to a sleeping boy with his black hair in a ponytail, and a rotund one sitting next to him, eating a bag of potato chips._ Nara and Akimichi, would be my my guess._ Then he noticed a boy with a dog sitting on his head,_ Inuzuka,_ talking to a shy girl with ink-blue hair and pale eyes._ Hmm, a Hyuuga,_ then, as an afterthought,_ A pretty cute one too. _Then he noticed a blond, pony-tailed girl, _Yamanaka, _and a pink haired girl, _Haruno, _fighting, apparently over the last seat next to boy in a blue shirt and raven-dark hair, with similarly colored eyes. He was sitting next to a boy with crew-cut black hair, and dark brown eyes. The two seemed oblivious that there was anything even remotely interesting occurring near them, as they continued their conversation.

Since he didn't see the sense in fighting over a seat, of all things, he decided to end the argument on his own. So, he walked over and took the seat next to the boys. When they noticed him sitting there, Naruto turned to them and, with a smile behind his mask, lifted his left hand in greeting and said, "Yo, name's Uzumaki Naruto. You guys mind if I sit here?"

The blue-shirted one just shrugged, while the brown-eyed boy smiled and said, "Nah, it's nice to meet you, Naruto-san. My name's Jaganshi Ryu." He then stuck his hand out, which Naruto proceeded to shake in greeting.

Naruto then looked at the one to his immediate left, and held his hand out. "And you?"

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke," he replied, with a small smile. In the first ten minutes of the academy, he had already made two friends. This day wasn't turning out to be nearly as bad as he had expected.

"Wow, an Uchiha, ne(huh)? You guys have one hell of a reputation," Naruto stated. He then turned to Ryu, and said, apologetically, "No offense, but I don't think I've heard of the name Jaganshi."

Ryu chuckled a little, then said, "Well, that's probably because I just moved here with my sensei, Genkai."

"That just might be why," Naruto said in a jokingly thoughtful tone, while scratching his chin. This got a small chuckle from Ryu, and a smirk from Sasuke. He turned back to Ryu, and was about to ask about where he was from, when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

Naruto looked up to see the pink haired girl, apparently the winner of the fight, looking down at him with a cheery smile, that held barely-constrained anger.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice laced with that same anger, "I believe that's my seat you're sitting in."

Naruto just looked back at her with that same bored expression that Kakashi was so famous for, and said, "Actually, as of three minute ago, this became_ my_ seat, seeing as how your name doesn't seem to be on it."

Before the girl could shriek her reply, the door opened and admitted a man with a scar across the bridge of his nose.

"Hello, class," the man greeted, "My name is Iruka, and I will be your sensei for your duration in the academy." He looked over his class and stopped on a boy whom he could've sworn was Kakashi, had it not been for the blond hair, and blue eyes._ That must be Naruto,_ he thought._ Great, I get the vessel in my class. Hope he doesn't turn out to be too much trouble... _

With those thoughts, he turned to the blackboard and began the lesson.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto told Kakashi as soon as he got back from the first day about his new friends. Kakashi couldn't have been happier for his Ototo(little brother). If there was one thing Kakashi thought Naruto needed, it was friends. In the proceeding weeks, Naruto and Ryu were introduced to Sasuke's family, including Itachi, who just rubbed Naruto the wrong way. Ryu, in turn, introduced Naruto and Sasuke to his sensei, Genkai, whom Naruto thought was pretty scary. Naruto tried to introduce Ryu and Sasuke to Kakashi, but he was constantly being assigned to missions, so he finally stopped trying, at least until his Aniki had some time off.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next ten months afterwards went by smoothly enough. That is, until the screams of pain and cries of anguish of his brethren would bring a young Uchiha to his knees, as he watched his brother slaughter his own parents. He was then subject to the torture of the Mangekyou Sharingan, causing him to relive that same moment in his own mind for three full days, only one second of real time. Normally, something as traumatic as this would send someone on a path of darkness, that would likely end in the loss of one's sanity, as well as death. Luckily, this young boy had two extremely loyal friends.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How is the boy?" Sarutobi asked the doctor.

"It doesn't look good, Hokage-sama," the doctor replied. "The boy is completely unresponsive. He doesn't eat, sleep, or talk. He just sits there. If this continues-"

"Where's Sasuke?" a voice cut in.

The two looked down at the source of the interruption. There stood two young boys, one he recognized as his old friend, Genkai's, student, Ryu, and another that looked eerily like Kakashi. It took a second for Sarutobi to recognize the boy in the mask as Naruto. He looked up, as Genkai and Kakashi came walking up behind their respective charges.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "They wouldn't take no for an answer."

Sarutobi eyed the boys, and asked, "You two are his friends I presume?" Both boys nodded. The old man sighed, looked back at the doctor, and nodded for them to be let in.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of the door opening didn't bother Sasuke at all, nor did the sounds of footsteps in his hospital room spur any kind of reaction. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the incessant poking of his shoulder. He'd finally had enough of it and he smacked the hand away the next time it came to poke him.

"Hey, you aren't dead!"

Sasuke looked at the one who had been poking him, and saw Naruto sitting there, obviously grinning behind his mask. He looked around a bit and saw Ryu was there too, standing next to the bed, smiling.

His smile turned into a frown as he said, "We heard about what happened."

Sasuke looked down at this, trying to fight back tears, as he said, "I couldn't stop him. I was too weak. I... I didn't even try to fight him!" He couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He started crying. Then he felt a comforting hand on each shoulder.

"Of course you couldn't stop him. Your brother was in the ANBU. You haven't even made it past the academy yet," Ryu said.

"Yeah, so if you had fought him, you'd probably be dead. And we can't have that. After all, we're a team aren't we?" Naruto chimed in.

Sasuke thought back to the day when they had all declared themselves a team, and had promised to fight for each other, and help each other reach their respective goals. He gave a small smile, and said, "Arigato(Thanks), you guys." He thought about something for a minute, and decided on a course of action. He turned to his two best friends, and he said, "I need to get stronger. I need to get strong enough, to kill Itachi," he stated matter-of-factly.

Naruto and Ryu looked at each other and nodded. Then Ryu said, "Then we'll help you train."

Naruto nodded, and said, "And when the time comes for you to fight him, we won't interfere."

Sasuke nodded his thanks, then noticed something rather important. "I'm kinda hungry." To confirm this, his stomach let out a low growl, causing the other two to sweat drop.

Naruto snapped his fingers and said, "I forgot! There's this awesome ramen stand called Ichiraku's that I've been meaning to take you guys to. It's got the best ramen in town!"

"Then let's go!" Ryu yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

Sasuke smiled at his two friends, and thought,_ I won't do it, Itachi. I won't kill my best friends. I get my own power, my own way. And then, I will avenge the clan. _

With his resolve set, he headed out with his companions into bright Konoha morning.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Author's Notes**_

Gah! Not enough action! Good thing that next up is the Genin exams! Although, it will be my first time writing fight scenes, so don't judge me too harshly. Anyway, please R&R.


	3. Teaming Up, Part 1

_**Will of Fire**_

_**Chapter 3:Teaming Up, Part 1**_

Naruto sat between Sasuke and Ryu, anxiously awaiting when he would finally be put on a Genin team. The so-called 'exams' had been way too easy. All they had to do was create a proper Bunshin(clone).

**Congratulations on making Genin, kit, **came the Kyuubi's voice. Naruto couldn't help but smile behind his mask at this. He hadn't talked to Kyuubi much recently, because he had been training so much. He had anticipated the exams to be a hell of a lot harder than they were. Plus, Kakashi had promised Naruto that he would mark his graduation as his coming of age. This was especially invigorating for Naruto, because Kakashi had promised to reveal who his parents were when he finally came of age. So to hear his inner protector's voice was a welcome surprise.

Naruto was deterred from his thoughts, as Iruka-sensei walked through the door, holding a sheet of paper.

"I will now place all of you on your Genin teams. The teams were created to be balanced, with three teams of three." Some were confused at this, seeing that there were ten graduates, not nine. "Starting with Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto," the blond perked up at hearing his name, interested to see who he would be paired with, "Uchiha Sasuke," the two smiled at each other, and both mentally sighed, glad that they would have a friend on the team, "And Haruno Sakura." The pink haired girl shrieked in excitement at being on the same team as Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke shot each other annoyed glances, and then both turned to their third companion, disappointed that they weren't all on the same team, to see Ryu smirking at them.

"Good luck with the banshee guys. I think you'll need it." Naruto started laughing, while Sasuke gave an amused smirk, having not actually laughed since the Uchiha Massacre.

"Ahem, alright then, now Team Eight: Jaganshi Ryu," now it was Ryu's turn to perk up and listen, "Aubrame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata."

Ryu looked around the room, and caught the gazes of his two new teammates. He grinned at the two of them, then gave them both the thumbs up sign. The Hyuuga blushed, and turned away, while the Aubrame just turned away, seemingly unaffected by the friendly gesture. Ryu frowned at this, and turned back, thinking, _Crap, out of everyone else here, I get the two that I haven't heard utter one freaking word the entire time I've been at the academy. I'll bet Genkai rigged it just to spite me for that one time I was late for a training session. Heh, as if the beating wasn't enough..._

A poke on the shoulder spurred him from his thoughts. He turned to look at Naruto, who said, "Hey, when you get a chance, could you introduce me to that cute Hinata girl?"

Ryu grinned and nodded his head.

"Finally, Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Inuzuka Kiba."

A boy in the middle of the classroom slowly raised his hand, as if doing so required actual effort, and asked, "Iruka-sensei? Why wasn't I called?"

"Oh, right, well, Shikamaru, that last IQ test showed your intelligence to be so high, that you are to immediately be moved into strategist training."

"Jamakusai(Troublesome)," was the young boy's reply.

"Now you are all to wait here for your Jonin instructors." And with that, Iruka left the room.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryu and his two new teammates, Hinata and Shino, were all sitting on a park bench, looking up at their sensei. Yuhi Kurenai had been the first to arrive.

"Now, before we officially become a team, there are a couple of things we have to accomplish. The first is to get to know each other a little better. So, I'll go first. My name is Yuhi Kurenai; I like my job as an instructor; I don't like stuck-up snobs and guys who can't take a hint; my hobbies are training, collecting flowers, and spending time with Asuma; my current goal is to help all of you better yourselves; my dream is to have a family." Then, smiling, she pointed to Hinata. "You're up next, ladies first, after all."

Hinata blushed a little. "My n-name is H-Hyuuga Hinata; I l-like, umm..." at this she tented her fingers and blushed a little more, "a-a c-c-certain b-boy," Kurenai smiled at the flustered girl, while Ryu thought to himself,_ Shit, I hope she's not another Sasuke fan-girl. Naruto would be so disappointed._ "I d-dislike... nothing r-really; my h-hobbies are trying to b-become a b-better p-person, and f-flower-pressing; my goal i-is to g-get H-Him t-to n-notice m-me; my d-dream is t-to... ummmm..." at this, the extremely shy girl was blushing a deep crimson, and she covered her face with her hands.

Kurenai sweat-dropped at the sight._ Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me with this one._ She pointed to Shino next, and said, "Next."

"My name is Aubrame Shino; I like bugs, and my family; I dislike people who kill bugs in front of me; my hobbies are bug collecting, training, and studying; my goal is to become a good ninja, and my dream is the same," he stated in a monotonous voice.

_Okay, that guy officially creeps me out, _Ryu thought.

"Okay, then," Kurenai said. She then pointed at Ryu and said, "Last one."

Ryu smiled, and cheerfully stated, "My name is Jaganshi Ryu; I like life," this caused Kurenai, and even Hinata and Shino, to sweat drop, "I dislike people who enjoy killing, kill just because they can, and who belittle others; my hobbies include training, hanging out with Naruto and Sasuke, and painting," Kurenai couldn't help but be intrigued by this, "my goal is to protect those I care about, and help them achieve their goals; and my dream," Ryu looked to the sky, with a sad look in his eyes, and said, "is to make my parents proud of me."

Kurenai didn't miss the look on his face as he looked towards the heavens, but decided to ask him about it later.

Kurenai smiled, taking one last look at the three of them, before saying, "Meet me at Training Ground Eight tomorrow morning, and the real Genin test will begin." With that, she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The three new Genin stared at the place where their sensei had disappeared. Then Ryu sighed in exasperation, "Dammit, not another test! And here I thought we'd be ready to go and missions, and crap like that."

"It is most likely to test our teamwork."

Ryu stared at the normally quiet Shino with a questioning look on his face.

Shino turned towards him and explained, "I highly doubt that they would go through the trouble of putting us on teams if they wanted to test us individually."

At that, Ryu stood and looked at his two new teammates with a determination in his eyes. "Then let's all go work on that," he said, "If we're gonna work together then we should know how to play off of each others' strengths and cover each others' weaknesses."

Shino then stood as well. "That sounds logical."

Hinata stood up next. "H-Hai(Yes)," was all she said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ryu, Hinata, and Shino all stood at attention before their sensei, Kurenai. She had just explained that they had until noon to get ahold of one of the two bells that she was carrying, or they would fail the test, and they were now waiting for the signal to start.

"GO!"

The three Genin scattered into the surrounding woodland.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kurenai was currently standing in front of Ryu, the one she had tracked down first. He was currently wearing what he called his 'fight clothes'. He wore a long, black trench-coat, with the kanji for 'spirit' embroidered in gold on the back, black pants with golden flames spiraling up the legs, and a black T-shirt, with more of the gold flames crossing and wrapping around his chest is a giant 'X'. He wore his Konoha headband as a belt. However, the most intriguing thing to Kurenai was the katana he carried on his back.

"So," Ryu said, "are we gonna stare menacingly at each other all day, or are we gonna fight?"

"Well, I suppose," Kurenai replied. "How about you take the first move?"

"Heh, fine with me," said Ryu, as he took a very interesting stance. He just stood there, with his right arm raised, his index finger pointing straight at Kurenai, his thumb towards the heavens. A pale blue light the size of a pea glowed at the end of his finger, and, without giving Kurenai the chance to think about what he was doing, he cried out his attack.

"Rei Gan(Spirit Gun)!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sphere of pale blue light shot from Ryu's fingertip, instantly growing to the size of a basketball.

Kurenai's eyes grew wide, as she barely dodged the blast of what seemed to be pure chakra. But that couldn't be right. A Genin being able to perform techniques like that was just...

She never got time to finish her thoughts, as Ryu appeared in front of her at a speed that many Chunin would be jealous of, and slammed his right fist into her gut, the strength of it causing her to cough up blood, as she flew backward for a few yards, before crashing into a tree. She pulled herself to her feet, and, seeing that he was coming again, activated a more powerful genjutsu.

Ryu stopped dead in his tracks as the world around him began to spin. He shook his head to try and free himself from the sudden dizziness. This, however, did not help, as the world just spun faster and faster.

_This must be a genjutsu, _he realized. He then smirked, as he put his hands into the basic chakra-molding seal. _Too bad I have an advantage against this. _Then he activated his bloodline limit.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"She's coming," Hinata said, watching Kurenai move through the woods using her bloodline limit, the Byakugan.

Shino's voice came from nearby, "Right. Be careful."

Hinata stood her ground in the clearing as the female Jonin landed in front of her. She took the basic Gentle Fist stance, poised for a fight.

_At least she looks more confident than yesterday,_ Kurenai thought.

In truth, Hinata was completely terrified. But she refused to let it show. Not in front of her teammates. Her own family already viewed her as weak. She didn't know what she would do if her team felt the same way. So, Hinata charged Kurenai, throwing everything she had at her sensei.

Kurenai was easily dodging all of Hinata's actual strikes, but the chakra being expelled from her palms was harder to avoid. Every now and then, as Hinata relentlessly attacked her sensei, she would feel a sharp pain, as Hinata's chakra damaged her chakra system and muscles.

Kurenai dodged a palm strike to the head Hinata had just thrown, and finally saw an opening. She struck Hinata in the stomach a few times, and then knocked her down with a side kick.

"Not bad, Hinata," Kurenai complimented, as she walked up to the shy Hyuuga. "But I should end this..."

She was just about to knock the young Hyuuga heir out, when she suddenly felt a foot collide with her gut, and was thrown back. She looked up, and was thoroughly shocked. Ryu was now standing in front of Hinata, but with one_ very_ noticeable difference. A large third eye now adorned his forehead. It looked just like a regular eye, except for the size, and was the same deep brown as his normal eyes.

Ryu smirked, fully aware of what Kurenai was staring at. "This," he said pointing his thumb at his new eye, "is my bloodline limit. This is the Jagan." Then his face turned serious as he turned his head just enough to see Hinata, while his Jagan kept staring right at Kurenai. "Are you alright, Hinata-san?"

"H-Hai," she replied. She wasn't surprised about the Jagan, having been shown the previous day, but that didn't mean she didn't find it just a little bit creepy.

Ryu nodded, and turned to face Kurenai. He used his Jagan to survey the surrounding area._ Good, the trap is set. Now for the endgame... _His right hand grabbed the hilt of his katana. He watched Kurenai pull out a kunai in response, preparing to meet steel with steel. He smirked, as he pulled out his weapon.

Ryu had surprised her plenty of times today, but now she was just plain confused. He now held in his right hand the hilt and guard of a katana... and nothing else. There wasn't a single trace of a blade. Then her eyes widened at what he did next.

With his smirk still in place, Ryu brought the hilt up in front of him. He then called out another technique.

"Rei Ken(Spirit Sword)!"

Kurenai watched in awe as a blade made of the same pale blue light that formed his Spirit Gun extended from the hilt.

Ryu charged at Kurenai, his 'sword' at the ready. Kurenai instinctively brought up her kunai to block, and channeled as much chakra as she could into the weapon, hoping that maybe that would block it. Luckily for her, it did.

"This 'blade' of mine is made of pure chakra," Ryu explained, "It's a lot like my Spirit Gun, only more refined."

Kurenai was shocked... again. Being able to use techniques like that, without any hand-seals at all? That would require a level of chakra control that many Jonin didn't possess, let alone Genin. She would definitely have to talk to his old sensei, after this.

"Hey, Kurenai-sensei?"

She looked quizzically at a grinning Ryu.

"Yokushi(Checkmate)." He nodded for her to look behind herself.

Her eyes widened at the sight. She was surrounded by the Aubrame clan's infamous Destruction Bugs.

She couldn't believe it. She had completely underestimated their abilities. They had slowly, but surely, backed her into a corner, and she hadn't even come close to seeing it coming. She couldn't be more proud to call herself their sensei.

She smiled as she said, "You all pass."

Ryu continued to grin as he said, "Cool," before promptly passing out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Author's Notes**_

There we go. Much better than my previous Chapter 3. Mainly because it's longer, and wraps up Team 8's entire exam, allowing me to devote the entirety of the next chapter to Naruto and Sasuke's exam. Thanks to those that urged me to do this. Please R&R!... again.


End file.
